How do we as Buddhists meet the challenges of our time? Joan Sutherland shares the history of koans, which were created to deal with a difficult period in Chinese history. From the Buddhadharma archive, originally published in Spring 2008.
Several years ago, in the face of a creeping despair about the state of the world, I began to reread my favorite twentieth-century [...]

On April 4, the board of directors of Refuge Recovery emailed an "international sangha bulletin" to its community to address the allegations of sexual misconduct against its founder, Buddhist teacher Noah Levine.
The letter says that Levine has taken a leave of absence from his role as president of the Refuge Recovery board. It also states that the Los Angeles Police [...]

When his community’s beloved retreat center burned to the ground, Anam Thubten took it as a teaching on impermanence. Instead of futilely fighting loss, he says, let it be our invitation to freedom and spaciousness.
In 2016, after more than two years of searching, my sangha found and purchased a beautiful retreat center in Big Sur, where we could practice together. There [...]

Meditation is getting mainstream enough to attract the attention of big league advertisers. Good news or the beginning of the end? Rod Meade Sperry analyzes the latest videos from KFC.
Meditation, you’ve come a long way, baby.
I don’t mean just to be glib when I invoke the famous Virginia Slims cigarettes tagline, which debuted in 1968 to take advantage of the surging [...]

Climate change can feel so immense that it hurts just to think about. Lama Willa Miller offers five meditations to help bring the truth of climate change into your awareness and lay the ground for a skillful response.
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria have come and gone, leaving hundreds dead. We’re left facing a dire reality: we live on a warming planet. Homes blown [...]

"The message of my Buddhist practice is, 'Be courageous. You are exactly what is wanted. We’re all different,'" says Glenn Copeland musician and composer Glenn Copeland. John Harvey Negru talks to Copeland about his life as a pioneer in music, his fourty-four years of Buddhist practice in the Soka Gakkai tradition, and his mission for the future.
If you haven’t heard of [...]

In the latest allegation of sexual misconduct against a prominent Buddhist teacher, the Los Angeles-based Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society (ATS) on March 29 released a statement addressing allegations of sexual misconduct by its founding teacher Noah Levine; Levine addressed the matter via an email message the next morning.
Update, April 20, 2018: Against the [...]

Erik Jampa Andersson's "dharmatized" version of Lady Gaga's hit song "Born This Way" is currently making the rounds on Facebook with his own unique spin on the title: "Reborn This Way." The title references the Buddhist concept of rebirth, the belief that mind and energy is reborn after death until enlightenment is reached.
Reborn This Way - Gaga in Bhutan
I'm usually [...]

Bonnie Duran, a dharma teacher, public health researcher, and professor at the University of Washington, is the first Native American to join the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, Northwest Dharma News reports. The teachers council sets policy for Spirit Rock Meditation Center, which serves 60,000 people annually.
Based in Seattle, Duran has practiced the dharma for thirty-five [...]

Ajahn Brahm has resigned from his position as the spiritual director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA), the organization announced in a news release.
The announcement was written by Drew Bellamy, Immediate Past President of BSWA. It reads, in part:
The 2015-2018 Committee has for some time been examining and trying to implement more support (paid or [...]

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We’re glad to have you here. But first: who are “we”?
You may very well know us as the publishers of two Buddhist magazines, the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma. Then again, you may not know us at all. Either way, please allow us to re-introduce ourselves:
We’re the Shambhala Sun Foundation. We [...]